Everybody including the local media was taken aback when the Bangladesh media manager informed that Ashraful was not interested to attend the press even though it is an unwritten law that the team captain must come forward to the press after the end of the match.

The question was raised about whether the 23-year old skipper was not courageous enough to face the heat but Ashraful said that it was not his fault and that he was ready to meet the press despite another disappointing performance.

"I never showed my unwillingness to attend the press because as a captain I have to face it and I am not at all a coward. What I learnt is that you people (the press) demanded our coach," was the surprise response of the disappointed young Bangladesh skipper after the completion of the official press conference.

Although everybody wanted to focus on the difficult conditions due to overcast condition, Ashraful said that there was no chance for them to make any excuse for the 137 run total on the board.

"Yes, batting in this condition was difficult but not impossible. We can't give any excuses for this kind of total. I must say our batting was miserable and we lost the game for poor batting because once again our bowlers showed their characters," he admitted.

"But if we could manage a total of 200 runs than it could have been a different story. My partnership with Aftab raised the hopes to reach a fighting total but I misjudged a Jayasuriya delivery to shatter that hope," he explained.

The right-hander, who made a laborious 29 from 59 deliveries with the help of a boundary, also said that there was no scope showcasing the case of Mashrafe Bin Mortaza's, who was ruled out from the match due to an ankle injury he had suffered during practice on Sunday.

"He might have contributed as a batsman but the fact was that Shahadat bowled well in the match. Actually our bowling was good but you can't stop a team like Sri Lanka with a small total," he added.